This invention relates to children's three wheel knee scooters.
Known to the prior art are three wheeled knee scooters, a sampling of which can be seen in U.S. Pat. to Prochaska, Nos. 1,615,403; Avril, 1,668,623; and Rich, 3,059,943. Typically they have a support bar from which fore and aft wheels depend, a knee trough supported by the support bar and a steering column at the front.
Three wheeled knee scooters are preferable to the two wheeled type because of the added stability which three wheels impart. One type is as shown in Prochaska where the two wheels are in the rear. However, young children are not adept at steering such vehicles and are prone to attempt to turn too sharply resulting in a flip-over in the direction of the turn due to the child's momentum and the lack of proper support in that direction when the wheel is turned sharply. I have discovered that by placing two projections on either side of the steering post disposed to engage the support bar which runs horizontally to the ground that the wheel can be restrained from turning excessively and falls can thereby be averted. Ideally the wheel should be restrained at an angle of about 45 degrees from the straight ahead position.
An ideal knee trough should be covered at the bottom with a soft, yielding material on which to rest the knee; also the forward end of the knee trough should be enclosed to permit the pressure of the child's knee to bear against the vehicle; otherwise, the child's knee tends to slip forward of the knee trough and the full thrust of the knee is not translated into the work of propelling the vehicle forward. However, this raises another problem. Inasmuch as these vehicles are quite often left outside in the yard by the child owner on flat or sloping ground the enclosed trough tends to form a pond in which dew and rain water collect. This contributes to the rust of the metal and/or the rotting of the fabric which covers the bottom of the trough. I have discovered that by enclosing only the top portion of the trough with a loop or band of metal or material that the accumulated water can be drained out of the trough no matter how the scooter is parked.